One Week From Funnel
One week from today, on Friday, March 18th, the Iowa legislature will experience the second funnel deadline of the session. It’s the final date for Senate bills and joint resolutions to be reported out of House committees, and vice versa.
Already this session, the legislature has passed the school funding bill, a tax reform bill, and a girls sports protection bill. Those were among the hottest topics going in to the session, and all were resolved in two months.
Yesterday came the March revenue projection report, with continued strong state income projected. That’s the report lawmakers wait for before putting together the final state fiscal year budget.
By what I am about to say, I am certain I am jinxing things for my friends who cover the session…but this has all the feel of an early adjournment.
This is the second session of the current general assembly, which always ends sooner than the first year because it’s an election year. Given that this is the year of redistricting, lawmakers are running in different districts than they’re used to, with some moving from House to Senate and vice versa…so they’re going to want every possible free day to introduce themselves to new voters.
Plenty of time for speed bumps to develop, of course—after all, we’re talking about a legislature in an election year—but there’s cautious optimism that like what the majority is doing or not, the end will be upon us sooner than later.
